Introduction to Metadata for IDAH Fellows

Introduction to metadata for IDAH fellowsJenn RileyMetadata LibrarianDigital Library Program

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Many definitions of metadata

•“Data about data”•“Structured information about an

information resource of any media type or format.” (Caplan)

•“Structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource.” (NISO)

•…

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Some uses of metadata• By information specialists

▫ Describing “non-traditional” materials▫ Cataloging Web sites▫ Navigating within digital objects▫ Managing digital objects over the long term

• By novices▫ Preparing Web sites for search engines▫ Depositing materials into an institutional repository▫ Managing citation lists▫ iTunes▫ Tagging – flickr, del.icio.us, etc.▫ LibraryThing

Good metadata…

•Meets a defined purpose•Conforms to accepted standards and/or

best practices•Doesn’t have to be created by humans

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Metadata formats

•Predefined sets of features likely to be necessary or useful for a specific purpose

•Choosing a format others also use improves interoperability

•Can be:▫Official standards▫Backed by professional organization▫Backed by trusted institution▫Locally developed

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Creating metadata

•HTML <meta> tags•Spreadsheets•Databases•XML•Library catalogs•Digital library/content management

systems

Some types of metadata

•Descriptive metadata•Technical metadata•Structural metadata•Markup languages

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How metadata is used12/5/2008IDAH Seminar

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Descriptive metadata• A description of a resource• For discovery

▫Includes both search and browse▫In a controlled environment designed to match

target users with interesting resources▫Pushed out to the network for others to make

use of• For display

▫Gives a user the context they need to understand a resource

• Can be both objective and subjective• Usually human-generated

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Descriptive metadata for discovery

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Descriptive metadata – an example

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Descriptive metadata – another example

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Technical metadata

•Allows systems to manage and process resources in appropriate ways

•Essential for the preservation of digital materials

•Generally format-specific•Generally machine-generated

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Technical metadata example12/5/2008IDAH Seminar

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Structural metadata

•Describes relationships▫Points of interest within a resource▫Between parts and wholes▫Between different representations of the

same content▫When resources should be presented in

sequence▫When resources should be presented in

parallel•Often machine generated

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Structural metadata – an example

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Structural metadata – another example

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Markup languages

•Mix metadata with data (resource content)

•Insert flags into arepresentation of the content of a resource, signaling what bits of content are or what they mean

•Generally have a “header” with descriptive metadata too

•Either human- or machine-generated

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Markup languages – an example

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Markup languages – another example

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So what?•How could structured metadata support the

goals of your IDAH fellowship project?•How can the metadata creation/use tools and

metadata expertise in the DLP help you?

Presentation slides: <http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/~jenlrile/presentation

s/idah2008/metadata.ppt>

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